Monday, March 31, 2008

My life before Hulu was busy, but simple. I went to work, I went to school, I worked out, I watched my live and recorded TV, I blogged and then I went to bed. Now, not only do I force myself to keep up with new stuff and whatever my Tivo gnabs for me, but I am also obsessed with watching re-runs of ridiculous old TV shows.

Huluis an online partnership between Universal and News Corp, the parent companies of NBC and Fox. You can watch full episodes of popular television shows, old and new, all online with top notch picture quality.

I spent my afternoon watching Benson and Picket Fences. In doing so, I almost forgot to go to class. Hulu is the best/worst thing to happen to me.

Sunday, March 30, 2008

The highly anticipated second season of The Tudors premiered tonight. I was too busy fawning over John Adams, but I'm sure I'll read about it tomorrow.

This may not be news to some of you, because the episode made its debut YouTube last week. The crazy monarchy sex parts were taken out but the gist was there. Showtime is hoping the tease will garner subscribers.

A better approach might have been to pre-screen the first 15 or 20 minutes on CBS, then direct people online, but who am I to judge?

Saturday, March 29, 2008

Just in case the five of you were wondering where I was, fear not. I am out of town for the weekend and probably won't be able to post until I get home on Sunday. I have so much to write about though and I can't wait to get back into the swing of things.

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

I love TV, but a few things drove me a little nuts today about my favorite medium.

I'm watching Top Chef and while it's nothing new, those little "coming up on Top Chef" clips are starting to drive me nuts. Trust that I will stay to watch and just go to the commercials. I don't need any more Padma than absolutely necessary. I do love Andrew though. He dances on the border between funny and sociopathic.

American Idol **Spoiler Alert** - I am sad that Chikezie got voted off. He wasn't a great singer but he seemed funny and I liked watching the few occasions when he shook things up.

One of my favorite game shows, Family Feud, is making the move to primetime NBC. I think it deserves a 21st century update but I don't like that they're fussing with the family aspect a bit. The show could feature celebrity kin or casts of NBC shows (Think 30 Rock vs. Heroes). I miss Ray Combs.

Monday, March 24, 2008

I didn't want to watch I Can Make You Thin. I was hesitant to give my time to a show that looked like hokum. But tonight it came on and I couldn't find the remote. The show's exuberant host, Paul McKenna, sucked me in with his charm and dapper accent. What the hell, I could stand to lose some weight. I watched for the whole hour.

McKenna is a weight-loss guru bases in the UK. His book is amazingly popular and he lectures all around the globe. He has success stories by the barrel full. One of them was on the show tonight and her story was dripping with sincerity.

1. When you're hungry, go and eat2. Eat what you want3. Eat consciously4. When you think you're full stop.

And apparently he comes back every week with more tips and ideas. He spoke through the TV. He kept saying " I'm speaking to you, at home, right now." I was suckered in like a seven-year-old watching a magic show. I wrote down my weight loss homework assignments and I plan on completing the little challenges this week. The show is on for 5 weeks and McKenna claims that those five weeks can really change the way you think about food.

This is an interesting challenge for me. I plan on taking McKenna up on his challenge not only to see if it works but to put some faith in TV. There is a lot of bullshit on television and that's saying it nicely. Is this guy legit or just out to sell books? I'm going to take five weeks and find out. You get to come with me.

As McKenna said, "What do you have to lose? You're already overweight."

Sunday, March 23, 2008

My family isn't very religious but we take part in the food and commercialism aspects of the big Christian holidays. Easter is one of my favorites because it's all the food fun of Thanksgiving with better weather.

Anyway, Easter is also all about TV. (Though some may beg to differ.) Here are some of my favorite things on the tube this weekend:

The Ten Commandments - I love pre-wackjob Charlton Heston and watching the special effects that were way ahead of their time. Plus that pharoh has a crazy haircut and it makes me smile. The movie is a great way to kill five hours.

The Sound of Music - This movie is associated with most holidays which is convenient for Von Trapp Fanatics like myself. My mother and I watch it whenever it comes on. We sing the songs, we yell at the Nazis, we wonder how six people could operate so many puppets at once. Another great way to kill five hours.

The Easter Beagle Charlie Brown: Not as great as the Christmas special, but better than Halloween. This oft-forgotten Peanuts movie is nothing short of charming.

So Happy Easter to those of you who celebrate. To those who don't: have a super Sunday.

Saturday, March 22, 2008

I'm watching the Badger game right now. Basketball is kind of hard to watch but it gets a little easier if your team is winning. I digress.

I'm watching the game with my buddy Joe. He's a red-blooded American twenty-something whose never heard of Rock-N-Jock sports, a mainstay on MTV in the 1990s. I was in shock. Who doesn't remember Bill Bellamy, Rebecca Gayheart, Dean Cain and other Z-List celebs hitting the basketball court, baseball field and even the bowling alley.

The competitions were all in good fun and provided hours, and I mean hours, possibly days of content for the then teenage MTV.

I tried hard to find some footage on YouTube but it was near impossible. (Maybe Joe was on to something.) But I did find this clip of Marky Mark performing at the halftime show. The whole thing was quite a spectacle.

Apparently Martha Stewart celebrated the 500th episode of her talk show today.

I actually caught an episode of Martha this week, (Spring Break makes you do crazy things), and it wasn't half bad. Martha still seemed up tight and judgmental while making paper orchids with Lucy Liu. Then she made stuffed grape leaves and lined them up just so in the pan with fresh lemon slices. Her perfection drove me nuts, and yet I've never wanted a stuffed grape leaf more in my life.

How does she do it? I guess I have 500 back episodes to catch if I want to find out.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Anderson Cooper had a cancerous mole removed from underneath his eye. Apparently the cancer hadn't spread anywhere else and he's doing just fine. I bet his hospital gown was Prada and gorgeous. That is one sharped dressed man.

John Adams brought huge numbers for HBO. Apparently it's the best miniseries debut for the network since 2004. I watched the first and second segments and it really is fantastic, plus one of Adams' speeches to the Continental Congress felt very relevant for 2008.

TV Land is re-branding itself as the network for 40-ish crowd. Their moving away from re-runs and running some originals targeted at this highly coveted demographic. None of them sound very good though.

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

I just finished watching a sneak peak of ABC's new comedy Miss/Guided. It's produced by Ashton Kutcher (which by the way, what show isn't these days?) and stars Judy Greer (Arrested Development, Love Monkey) as a good intentioned but utterly clueless guidance counselor Becky Freeley.

Becky returns to her old high school to espouse her wisdom and experience on the next generation. The show uses talking head interviews and flashbacks to tell the story of Becky's nerdy existence. From her egregious orthodontia, constant stumbling and poor fashion sense, her dorkiness is on the border between endearing and over the top.

The show's conflicts arise from her former high school rival (cue pretty popular girl) getting a job at the school and she falls for Becky's crush, another teacher. Luckily the story has infinite storylines in Becky's students and the rest of the hapless staff, including the Vice Principal (Chris Parnell of SNL fame).

But something about it didn't work. It was charming, but not very funny. It felt like it was trying to tap into the sensibilities of other comedies but missing the good stuff. Becky's pure heart but poor execution reminded me of Michael Scott, but she was amazingly more out of it than he is. It had the documentary feel of Arrested Development, but without the rest of production conventions the flashbacks and interviews seemed out of place.

Since this wasn't the series premiere but rather a sneak peak, I am not giving up hope. Like its main character, the show has great intentions and with a little fine tuning it could be all right (think early Malcolm In The Middle). But know that in the first 5 minutes of the show, I thought I was watching Fox (think late Malcolm In The Middle).

Apparently the series premieres on Thursday at 8/7C with a guest appearance by none other than Ashton Kutcher. Hopefully his star power will warrant a better showing.

CBS had its first new Monday night comedy block since before the writers strike. They were competing with Fox dramas, reality heavyweights (The Bachelor and Dancing With The Stars) on ABC and a whole host of new reality on cable.

Well see the official results tomorrow but I am curious as to how these shows will stack up in a post-strike TV community. Will people welcome their "old friends" back into to their own with open arms or will there be a kind of backlash. Have we moved on? Was 100 days just long enough for you to jump on the reality bandwagon? Or even worse, turn off the TV all together?

CBS came out swinging tonight, but I am crossing my fingers that they don't strike out.

Monday, March 17, 2008

I took a freelance blogging job with CollegeCandy.com. I will continue to write for edubTV, but don't be alarmed if you notice the posts are slowing down a bit. My goal is to write one post a day for each site, but if I end up writing more than one, it will be for edub because you guys are my favorite.

Sunday, March 16, 2008

John Adams, the seven-part miniseries on the life our second president, starts tonight on HBO.

I plan on watching at least the first installment because I want to see what all the fuss is about but it will have to be pretty gripping to keep me coming back six more times.

If anyone can make it interesting, it will be HBO. They've done wonders for funeral homes, carnies and even vapid celebrities so I am optimistic that at least tonight's segment will be worth my time. Plus I am curious as to how they can doctor up Paul Giamatti to make him look a little less (for lack of a better term) schlubby. He's kind of doughy, matty hair, desperate eyes. Not ugly by any means, just schlubby. Like he'd rather in pajamas. Not exactly what comes to mind when you think of John Adams. (Though most of the time when I think of John Adams my mind quickly switches to Sam Adams. ) But make-up, an accent and great costume design can probably cure what ails him.

Jonah Hill (Superbad, Knocked Up) hosted SNL last night. It was probably the funniest episode of the show since they've been back from the strike.

My favorite tidbits were both political. Darrel Hammond did a bang-up job as John McCain and Tracy Morgan had a surprisingly funny rant on Barack Obama. It was a much needed rebuttal to Tina Fey's segment on Hillary Clinton a few weeks ago.

I still have a hard time telling Tracy Morgan and the character he plays on 30 Rock apart. If you've ever seen the show, you know that's kind of sad. 90% of the time I can do it, but it's that 10% that makes me wonder whether or not I should be laughing.

Friday, March 14, 2008

I am having a hard time completing that sentence. As the creator of Gilmore Girls, I want to say she is brilliant, fascinating, sharp and amazingly fast. Her work was some of most witty and underrated material on TV this decade, especially for female characters. After a long dry spell, she made me believe in fun television again.

But Sherman-Palladino left Gilmore Girls when the ladies made the jump from the WB to the CW, leaving her first love much worse for the wear. Gilmore Girls only lasted one more season without her at the helm and it was a very trying season at that.

But Sherman-Palladino is back. Sticking with the fairer sex, SP's new show ,The Return of Jezebel James, is about a busy career woman who convinces her estranged sister to serve as her surrogate. The show features trusted actresses Parker Posey (Waiting For Guffman) and Lauren Ambrose (Six Feet Under).

I want this show to be good. I have a great respect for Amy Sherman-Palladino as a writer and televisionary. The last season of Gilmore Girls shouldn't have had to be awful in vain. But I am hesitant. The reviews are pouring in ahead of the show's premiere tonight and they are far from complimentary. And Jezebel James' Friday night time slot certainly won't help it.

But I'm holding out hope. Amy Sherman-Palladino made me believe once, and now I will do the same for her.

The CW is apparently working with Rob Thomas (creator of Veronica Mars) to put together a 90210 spin-off. 90210 was kind of groundbreaking in its 10-year-run because until that point no one had followed the lives of rich, young people in urban settings. It's been 8 years since the show ended, and since then everyone has jumped in the "Let's dish about angsty well-off teenagers" bandwagon...err Mercedes.

Yes, a fair number of those shows are reality but the song remains the same. Will a 90210 spin-off sink or swim in a sea full of imitators? I don't think the show has a fighting chance unless Rob Thomas can make it more compelling than the original without crossing the line between fantasy and batshit nuts. No drunk driving story lines, no battles with ecstasy or meth or whatever the young people are doing these days, no comas. I want character driven drama, and luckily Rob Thomas can pull it off.

And another thing: As of yet none of the original cast is planning on coming back for the spin-off and neither is Darren Star who created the original and the first spin-off Melrose Place. So no one is coming back, its been 8 years and the show may not even take place in California. What exactly makes this a spin-off? Is the main character someone's kid? I think there's a statue of limitations on this type of thing and I'm putting it at 3 years.

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Britney Spears is doing a guest spot on How I Met Your Mother. This is not the first time Britney's tested the acting waters. Everyone remembers the cinematic marvel that was...Crossroads and her surprisingly funny guest appearance on Will & Grace.

HIMYM (Him-Yim for the abbreviation inclined) is in dire straits. The show finally found a small but reliable fan base and an enviable time slot but it's enough. It's almost April and the show still hasn't been picked up for a 4th season. Will Britney bring enough clout to keep this comedy afloat?

I don't want to put all my eggs in Britney's basket (who knows where its been?) but her guest spot may be HIMYM's last hope. The episode airs March 24.

New pilot about bitching', conniving but vulnerable lady lawyer.Smart, fast, stereotypical, not like Fox.Side characters need work. Margulies caries show.It's about time she gets screen time again.I miss old ER.Canterbury still better than 50% of TV.Especially 50% of Fox.Enough said.

Sunday, March 9, 2008

I love TV, but books aren't so bad on occasion. This is especially true when the books are written by TV people.

I went to see a great reading tonight. Ben Karlin, former Executive Producer of the Daily Show and The Colbert Report, teamed up with some of his good friends and fellow humorists to put together an anthology. Not just any anthology, a compendium of essays and funny business from 30-something guys on lessons they've learned from women who've dumped them.

The book, Things I've Learned From Women Who've Dumped Me, is already a bestseller and after listening to a few of the contributors, I know why.

Karlin tells his own story love lost during his college years. Dan Vebber, (a former writer for The Onion and currently a TV Writer) who told the cringe worthy story of the time he almost lost his virginity. Will Forte, Andy Richter, and Steven Colbert also took their turn at sharing their tragic but true trials with women. Plus there are several non-TV personalities as well to round things out.

This is one book I'm willing to tear myself away from the tube for, slap it on your to-do list if you can find the time.

Saturday, March 8, 2008

I have to admit I really liked Oprah's Big Give. Not only did it make me feel warm and fuzzy inside but it was really "fun" to watch. I throw that in quotes because not all TV is fun. Some makes you think, some makes you cry, some make you laugh. This was different. While I watched, I was sincerely enjoying myself. (It might have just been from watching Nate Berkus)

Anyway, the show got great numbers for its series premiere and tomorrow will be a test of its staying power. With Oprah at the helm, the show will undoubtedly be a success; but I am proposing it will do one better.

You heard it here first: I think Oprah's Big Give will unseat Amazing Race as the Emmy winner for Outstanding Reality-Competition Program. Amazing Race has won the honor all five times it's been awarded. But for the first time, there really will be a race for the win...and it's going to be a dead heat.

It's State Basketball Tournament time in Wisconsin which means my favorite ABC shows are pushed into the middle of the night so we can watch greasy teenagers hoop it up. I kid. While the tourney is always a great fun time I am a little upset about the late start for tonight's episode. Please keep me spolier free friends!

Recording:There may be something I'm forgetting but I don't think I'm recording anything tonight. I guess even the DVR gets a vacay some nights.

I'm pretty big on TV on DVD and I've got a pet name for my DVR (Clem) so it takes a lot for me to miss an episode of a show I care about. I was (probably still am) a pretty ravenous Gilmore Girls fan, but with a hectic schedule, a poor choice to record American Idol and no friends on DVR bandwagon, I missed one episode of the show's final season.

But months after we waived bon voyage to Rory and Lorelai something hit me. The show as I knew it wasn't over. I was missing one piece. I was like that uncoordinated awkward kid who couldn't put together the shrine of the silver monkey on Legends of the Hidden Temple. I couldn't advance to the last room because the head wasn't on straight.

I waited to buy the seventh season on DVD. Then I delayed even further and watched every episode leading up to the missing link. Tonight, I finally completed my Gilmore Girls mission. I laughed a little harder, the sentimental stuff was even squishier than usual and every thing felt new again...because it was. The 44 minutes came to quickly and when the credits ran, it was like losing the show all over again.

But at the same time it was letting it go. Most of my favorite shows are off the air but the memories, quotations, and sidesplitting scenes haunt my memory and my DVD rack. Cleaning out the space where Gilmore Girls used to sit is making room for something new...

Rashida Jones (aka Karen) is long gone from The Office but she's kept busy. She's the female lead on Fox's new comedy Unhitched and she's coming out with an earth friendly clothing line called Laloo. You go Gaia!

Now that Chris March is "auf" the runway, I have no one to root for in tonight's Project Runway finale. But from the little I saw in last week's pre-finale, I think I'm going to get behind Christian.

He's got everything needed to be the next big thing:

Funny hair

Unique vision

A last name that looks good on a tag/sounds good on TV

Plus he's been the most consistent from week to week. He's annoying as all get out but the show isn't about the designer I want to be friends with. In my humble opinion, Christian is the only contestant in Project Runway's history that will actually end up being the next great fashion designer. (Whether he wins tonight or not

A mother in Indianapolis was so wrapped up in last week's American Idol results show that she left her two young daughters alone in the bathtub where one almost drowned.

Sheila Brooks was watching the episode with her oldest daughters, ages 7 and 5 while her younger girls, ages 3 and 1 were in the tub. The results, (which weren't even shocking to most people) must have greatly captivated Brooks because she forgot her young daughters were in the bath unattended. When she realized her error, she didn't run in to check on the girls herself, instead she sent the 7-year-old in to do a spot check. When the young girl noticed her sister submerged in the water, she called for help. Luckily Mom was willing to tear herself away long enough to do get her daughter to the hospital.

Luckily the 3-year-old is okay and in protective custody with the rest of her sisters. Brooks hasn't been charged with anything yet, but between the neglect and marijuana paraphernalia police found in her home, she won't be scott free for long. At least they get Fox in jail.

I'm back from a weekend vacation in DC. We ate, we walked, we museum hopped. One of my favorite stops was the Air & Space Museum. Nope, I haven't gone flight-geek just yet. They're housing some of America's Treasures from the American History Museum while it's under renovation. These artifacts and mementos included everything from Edison's first light bulb, an old slave water vessel and Abe Lincoln's top hat. My favorite part of the exhibit? The TV mementos.

I saw Jerry Seinfeld's puffy shirt, the M*A*S*H Signpost, Carrie Bradshaw's laptop, Archie Bunker's chair, an original Kermit the Frog puppet, and some other fascinating items. Not only was it a great experience to see these items up close but it was a nice validation for the role TV plays in our culture. Call it an idiot box, call it the boob tube, call it frivolous, say there's nothing on. But don't tell me the television isn't a vital part of American Culture...for better or worse.

Saturday, March 1, 2008

Ellen Degeneres is lending her celebrity to a dog food called Halo that's so good (taste, ingredients, and nutrition wise) humans can eat it.

Three cheers for Ellen putting her money where her mouth is and continuing to be a champion for animals. When other celebrities are flashing their crotches or , Ellen just cries a little on TV and then does something about it. That's class.

Addison Montgomery is heading back to Seattle Grace...but just on a vacay. Kate Walsh is on break from Private Practice which is returning to ABC in the fall. In the interim she's doing a guest spot on Grey's just to confuse the hell out of people.

I'm sure the conversation with my mother will go something like this:

Mom: Doesn't this show come on Wednesday?Me: This isn't Private Practice.Mom: But it has the redhead on it. The one who looks like a horse.Me: No, it's a guest spot.Mom: So her show is canceled?Me: She's just visiting.Mom: But is she playing the same character as before?Me: Before what?Mom: Oh forget it. This is why I can't keep up with this mess.

And cue her falling asleep on the couch. Why does ABC insist on toying with the minds of our greatest generation?